Soccer: Glory days revived by win in cup

By TERRY MADDAFORD

Eastern Suburbs soccer teams of the 1950s and 1960s were happy bedmates with soccer's Chatham Cup, winning five of the six finals in which they played.

But in their only final appearance since then, in 1976, they lost.

These have been lean times for the once-famous club but in a typically dour tie at their oddly named Madills Farm headquarters in Auckland yesterday they beat Fencibles 3-2 with an extra-time winner.

So their Chatham Cup dream lives on. This afternoon, Eastern Suburbs, in their 76th season, will join 15 other survivors nationwide in the draw for the next round.

Among those northern clubs still in with a chance of adding another chapter to their own cup history are last season's beaten finalists, Waitakere City, University-Mt Wellington, who as Mt Wellington fashioned an enviable cup record in the post-Suburbs era, and Central United.

Waitakere City thumped Bluebird Northern League second-division side Ngaruawahia 11-0, with Chris Gage scoring four and Paul Hobson two.

Central needed second-half goals from Matthew Vuksich and Bruce Hill to head Hamilton Wanderers 2-0 away, while University-Mt Wellington also left it until the second half before scoring four goals to beat Takapuna 4-0.

Bay Olympic, who as Blockhouse Bay won the cup in 1970, are through but only after a penalty shootout against Ellerslie.

The giantkilling dreams of non-league Warkworth were dashed when they were beaten 0-5 away by Onehunga Sports.

Tauranga City are left to carry the hopes of non-Auckland clubs following their 6-1 away win over Birkenhead.

Metro also needed second-half goals, from Danny McHenery and Mark Foster, to see off first-division Claudelands Rovers 2-0.

But back to the battle at Madills Farm.

Suburbs, in their all-yellow alternate strip and playing in front of what was apparently their biggest crowd of the season, won the game as well as the war against a team - a combination of the old Howick and Pakuranga Town clubs - who take their name from the Royal New Zealand Fencible Corps.

The largest of the Fencible settlements was established in 1847 in what was to become Howick.

The team bearing their name showed plenty of fight - too much, in fact, as they had two players sent off and another couple booked. In between times there were some goals - a 57th-minute opener from Suburbs' Mohamed Arafat and two, in the 72nd and 78th from Mike Lausten and Keith Bright, for the visitors before substitute Leighton O'Rourke snatched an 89th-minute equaliser.

With Fencibles reduced to nine players for the last 16 minutes of extra time, O'Rourke's winner five minutes from time was inevitable.

But in the tradition of cup football, supporters and players from both camps were quick to socialise after the game in clubrooms the Suburbs faithful only dreamed about in the long-gone glory days.